codexmachina
registry/nextjs-mysql-better-auth-notes

Notes / knowledge base on Next.js 16 (App Router), MySQL 8 and Better Auth

verified 2026-07-15next16.2.9mysql23.22.6postgres3.4.9better-auth1.6.23@neondatabase/serverless1.1.0

Type-checked against the real SDKs, migration applied to a live MySQL 8, connection clients load-tested, then tracked for upstream drift and re-verified when it moves. How we verify

request path
Browserrequest
fetch
Next.js 16 (App Router)routing + proxy
verify
Better Authsession
query
MySQL 8pooled

session validation runs in server components and route handlers, not at the edge

What you're getting

Next.js 16 (App Router)

Next.js 16 App Router — file-based routing, server components, and the Edge proxy (Next 16's renamed middleware).

MySQL 8

MySQL 8 via Drizzle ORM and the mysql2 driver.

Better Auth

Better Auth — self-hosted auth running inside your app against your Postgres (Drizzle adapter).

Notes / knowledge base

Notes / knowledge-base — user-owned notebooks, versioned notes, free-form tags, and per-note read/write sharing.

Setup

bun add next react react-dom drizzle-orm mysql2 better-auth
DATABASE_URLMySQL connection string (mysql://…)
BETTER_AUTH_SECRETgenerate with `openssl rand -base64 32`
BETTER_AUTH_URLyour app's base URL

Apply the schema with bunx drizzle-kit push

Initialization

Database client

src/lib/db.ts
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// ponytail: single module-level pool; the runtime + mysql2's pool handle concurrency,
// so no globalThis singleton dance needed.
const pool = mysql.createPool(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);

export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { boolean, mysqlTable, text, timestamp, varchar } from "drizzle-orm/mysql-core";

export const user = mysqlTable("user", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  name: text("name").notNull(),
  email: varchar("email", { length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
  emailVerified: boolean("email_verified").notNull().default(false),
  image: text("image"),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
});

export const session = mysqlTable("session", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  expiresAt: timestamp("expires_at").notNull(),
  token: varchar("token", { length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull(),
  ipAddress: text("ip_address"),
  userAgent: text("user_agent"),
  userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
    .notNull()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
});

export const account = mysqlTable("account", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  accountId: text("account_id").notNull(),
  providerId: text("provider_id").notNull(),
  userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
    .notNull()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
  accessToken: text("access_token"),
  refreshToken: text("refresh_token"),
  idToken: text("id_token"),
  accessTokenExpiresAt: timestamp("access_token_expires_at"),
  refreshTokenExpiresAt: timestamp("refresh_token_expires_at"),
  scope: text("scope"),
  password: text("password"),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull(),
});

export const verification = mysqlTable("verification", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  identifier: text("identifier").notNull(),
  value: text("value").notNull(),
  expiresAt: timestamp("expires_at").notNull(),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
});
// Better Auth instance (self-hosted, Next.js 16 (App Router)).
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { drizzleAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/drizzle";
// Reuse the SAME postgres-js/Drizzle client the db slice exported in
// src/lib/db.ts — Better Auth shares the pooled `DATABASE_URL` connection.
import { db } from "./db";
import * as authSchema from "@/db/auth-schema";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  // Drizzle adapter over the shared client. The schema is passed HERE (not into
  // drizzle()) — it is the only consumer that needs it, so the db client stays
  // schema-less. ponytail: do NOT enable experimental.joins; it is the one option
  // that would make the adapter reach into db._.fullSchema.
  // ponytail: usePlural stays false (the default) — with it true Better Auth would
  // look for `sessions`/`accounts` and could bind to the analytics/ledger app-type tables.
  database: drizzleAdapter(db, { provider: "mysql", schema: authSchema }),
  // ponytail: email+password is the shortest real auth that works out of
  // the box — add socialProviders / plugins here when the app needs them.
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
  secret: process.env.BETTER_AUTH_SECRET,
  baseURL: process.env.BETTER_AUTH_URL,
});

export type Session = typeof auth.$Infer.Session;
// Mount Better Auth on Next's route layer.
import { toNextJsHandler } from "better-auth/next-js";
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth";

export const { GET, POST } = toNextJsHandler(auth);
// Session-protection proxy for Next.js 16 (App Router) (Next 16 renamed middleware.ts → proxy.ts).
// ponytail: getSessionCookie only checks the cookie EXISTS (no DB hit at
// the Edge runtime) — do the real auth.api.getSession() check inside
// protected Server Components / route handlers. This just bounces
// logged-out users before render.
import { NextResponse, type NextRequest } from "next/server";
import { getSessionCookie } from "better-auth/cookies";

export function proxy(request: NextRequest) {
  const sessionCookie = getSessionCookie(request);
  if (!sessionCookie) {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/sign-in", request.url));
  }
  return NextResponse.next();
}

export const config = {
  // ponytail: guard the SaaS app surface; widen the matcher per app-type.
  matcher: ["/dashboard/:path*", "/settings/:path*"],
};

Notes app schema: notebooks, notes, tags & sharing

Notebooks & notes

the owner-scoped notebook containers and the notes nested inside them, with archive support

Tags

free-form text labels attached to individual notes, deduplicated by a composite unique constraint

Sharing & permissions

per-note grants to other users with a CHECK-enforced read/write permission level

src/db/schema.ts
// === file: src/db/schema.ts ===
import { relations, sql } from "drizzle-orm";
import {
  boolean,
  check,
  index,
  mysqlTable,
  text,
  timestamp,
  unique,
  varchar,
} from "drizzle-orm/mysql-core";
// Better Auth owns identity; we only reference its `user` table by id.
import { user } from "./auth-schema";

export const notebooks = mysqlTable(
  "notebooks",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    ownerId: varchar("owner_id", { length: 255 }).notNull().references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    name: text("name").notNull(),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [index("idx_notebook_owner").on(t.ownerId)],
);

export const notes = mysqlTable(
  "notes",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    notebookId: varchar("notebook_id", { length: 36 }).notNull().references(() => notebooks.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    authorId: varchar("author_id", { length: 255 }).notNull().references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    title: text("title").notNull(),
    body: text("body"),
    isArchived: boolean("is_archived").notNull().default(false),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [index("idx_note_notebook").on(t.notebookId)],
);

export const noteTags = mysqlTable(
  "note_tags",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    noteId: varchar("note_id", { length: 36 }).notNull().references(() => notes.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    tag: varchar("tag", { length: 255 }).notNull(),
  },
  (t) => [unique("note_tags_note_tag_unique").on(t.noteId, t.tag)],
);

export const noteShares = mysqlTable(
  "note_shares",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    noteId: varchar("note_id", { length: 36 }).notNull().references(() => notes.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    sharedWith: varchar("shared_with", { length: 255 }).notNull().references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    permission: varchar("permission", { length: 32 }).notNull().default("read"),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [
    unique("note_shares_note_user_unique").on(t.noteId, t.sharedWith),
    check("note_shares_permission_check", sql`${t.permission} in ('read','write')`),
  ],
);

export const notebooksRelations = relations(notebooks, ({ one, many }) => ({
  owner: one(user, { fields: [notebooks.ownerId], references: [user.id] }),
  notes: many(notes),
}));
export const notesRelations = relations(notes, ({ one, many }) => ({
  notebook: one(notebooks, { fields: [notes.notebookId], references: [notebooks.id] }),
  author: one(user, { fields: [notes.authorId], references: [user.id] }),
  tags: many(noteTags),
  shares: many(noteShares),
}));
export const noteTagsRelations = relations(noteTags, ({ one }) => ({
  note: one(notes, { fields: [noteTags.noteId], references: [notes.id] }),
}));
export const noteSharesRelations = relations(noteShares, ({ one }) => ({
  note: one(notes, { fields: [noteShares.noteId], references: [notes.id] }),
  user: one(user, { fields: [noteShares.sharedWith], references: [user.id] }),
}));

Deploy targets

✓ The right DB client for where you deploy: load-tested with concurrent queries against a live database. Edge needs the HTTP driver (no TCP); serverless needs a tiny pool.
src/lib/db.ts
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// Serverless: a small pool per short-lived instance — many instances × a big pool exhausts MySQL.
export const pool = mysql.createPool({ uri: process.env.DATABASE_URL!, connectionLimit: 2 });
export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// Long-running process: a real, reused pool (mysql2 manages idle recycling).
export const pool = mysql.createPool({ uri: process.env.DATABASE_URL!, connectionLimit: 10 });
export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/planetscale-serverless";
import { Client } from "@planetscale/database";

// Edge/Workers have NO TCP sockets, so mysql2 cannot run here. PlanetScale's HTTP driver
// speaks MySQL over fetch — the client that works on Workers (the MySQL analog of Neon's HTTP driver).
const client = new Client({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL! });
export const db = drizzle({ client });

Decisions and compatibility

note

Auth runs in proxy.ts (Next 16's renamed middleware) on the Edge runtime: it gates on the session cookie's presence only — full session validation happens in Server Components and route handlers, not in the proxy.

note

mysql2's pool multiplexes connections; drizzle-orm/mysql2 wraps it. One module-level pool is right for a serverless/edge app — the runtime and the pool handle concurrency.

note

MySQL has no row-level security: multi-tenant isolation is enforced in application code via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not by the database. See the tenant-scoping section on SaaS pages.

note

Self-hosted: Better Auth owns the user/session/account/verification tables. This stack emits them (db/auth-schema.ts) and hands them to the Drizzle adapter, so app-type schemas can foreign-key `user` directly.

note

note_tags enforces a unique constraint on (note_id, tag), so duplicate tags per note are rejected at the DB level rather than in application code.

note

note_shares carries a CHECK constraint limiting permission to 'read' or 'write', and a composite unique on (note_id, shared_with) — one share row per user per note, updated in place rather than appended.

caveat

MySQL provides no row-level security. On MySQL, multi-tenant isolation is APP-ENFORCED via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not database-enforced like Postgres RLS. Every org-scoped query MUST go through forOrg — a missed query leaks across tenants. Postgres cells enforce this in the database itself (RLS), so it holds even for a query that forgets to scope.